


one and the same

by thatsmygvn (cougarlips)



Series: TWD Requests [32]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Sharing a Bed, Whump, more hurt less comfort tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 20:02:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12515448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cougarlips/pseuds/thatsmygvn
Summary: Jesus wasn’t used to coming back to someone who cared about him. Even before the world ended, he hadn’t had that.prompt: “You could have died.”





	one and the same

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Neeka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neeka/gifts).



Jesus wasn’t used to it, having someone care about him. It wasn’t  _unwelcome_  – part of him even liked the idea that someone would miss him when he was away – but it was foreign to him all the same.

Runs were the most difficult for him to get used to, because for so long he had no legitimate ties to the Hilltop or his community. It was easy for him to get a little careless, a little messy. His one-track mind got the better of him more often than not, and sometimes, the cost was greater than the price.

Case and point: The Sorghum truck.

But he still made it through, made it out, and always in one piece, no less. Perhaps he had to deal with some heat exhaustion, or maybe some rope burn, or sometimes he had to sacrifice articles of clothing and supplies in order to ensure he  _did_  make it out, but all he cared about, at the end of the day, was that he lived to fight another day.

The other thing he often misjudged, though, was the… extent of his injuries.

He was grateful Daryl never made any verbal comment on them when he trudged through the gates at Hilltop and into his and Daryl’s trailer. Daryl never told him off as he helped Jesus out of his dozens of layers, throwing them unceremoniously into the table. He didn’t  _tsk_  in disappointment at Jesus’s blistering and flushed skin.

But it was also the silence that made Jesus feel worse.

Jesus wasn’t used to coming back to someone who cared about him. Even before the world ended, he hadn’t had that.

He let Daryl half carry him to the bathroom and turn the faucet on, lowering him slowly into the cool water as it filled the tub.

He felt his bones sag with exhaustion as the last of his energy disappeared, but still he made himself stand up and towel off, ignoring Daryl’s watching eyes as he made sure Jesus didn’t do anything to further endanger his life. As Jesus made his way back towards Daryl, he handed Jesus a pair of sweatpants and let him prop his hand on his shoulder before pulling them on.

The two made their ways to the bed in the corner of the trailer, and Jesus all but let himself fall on top of the covers, ready to sleep as soon as his body hit the mattress. He came close to it, too, except he felt Daryl’s eyes on him.

“You could’a died,” Daryl said, finally breaking the silence, his tone hoarse and words harsher.

He was mad.

Daryl never  _liked_  when Jesus came back from runs battered and bruised, but he never outright said so. It was always in the way he moved, the way he held himself. The way he spoke, or didn’t speak. He didn’t often tell Jesus off for it, though; he was the same way when he went on his own missions, abandoning thought out and established plans, wounding himself in the process.

“I’m sorry,” Jesus said, his voice broken with disuse and exhaustion.

But Daryl turned onto his side and faced Jesus, eyes shutting with a tired sigh. He didn’t want a fight. In a slow movement, he lifted his hand and caught Jesus’s own in it, holding them together between their bodies on top of the blankets.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on tumblr [@thatsmygvn](//thatsmygvn.tumblr.com)
> 
> also i would die for comments and crit


End file.
